Last.



A. LATHAM.

- LAST. APPLICATION FILED ocr. 4, 1915.

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Patented Oct. 1, L918.

ALBERT LATHAM, OF BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGrNOR, BY MESNE ASSIGN- MEN'IS, TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, NEW

JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JE RSEY.

LAST.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1, 1918..

Application filedOctober t, 1915. Serial No. 53,959.

To all whom it may concern."

Be it known that I, ALBERT LATIIAM, a citizen of the United States, residing at Bev erly, in the county of Essex and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain Improvements in Lasts, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like ref.- erence characters on the drawings indicat ing like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to last-s. and its ob. ject is to make certain improvements in lasts of the type shown in the application of Prindle Serial No. 165, filed Janua v 2, 1915. It has been found advisable to provide a positive means for holding the hinge of such lasts in collapsed position and my invention includes a construction which I have found well adapted to accomplish this result.

A feature of my invention is a last having a fore part, a. heel part, a hinged connection between said parts and a pivoted locking member mounted upon one of said parts and constructed to engage either of two abutments on the other of said parts for holding the last in extended or collapsed position respectively.

Another feature of my invention consists in a heel part having a. pivoted bonding member adapted for separable connection with a fore part and a member for holding said bonding member in collapsed position. By the term separable as applied to a last, I refer to separation of the last parts during and incident to the ordinary contemplated use of the last as a last. Such separability is not accompanied by loss of adjustment in the last and does not destroy it as a last. A separable hinged last must separate with the entire hinge attached to one last member, in order to insure a tight, firm joint between the separable elements. That member of the hinge which is pivoted to one last part should be under such control that it will not interfere with the assembling and separation of the last n close quarters, for instance when the forepart is in place in a lasted shoe, This feat-ureiofe invention provides for" such control, the member mentioned holding the pivoted hinge member in collapsed posi-' tion so that it cannot get in the way when, the last is being manipulated.

These and other features of the invention comprising various combinations and arrangements of parts will be best understood and appreciated from the following description of a preferred embodiment thereof selected for purposes of illustration and shown in the accompanying drawings in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of the improved last;

Fig. 2 is a longitudinal cross section of the last in extended position;

Fig. 3 shows the last in collapsed position, partially in cross section, and

- Fig. 4: is a view of the fore and heel parts separated.

A wooden fore part 10 of the last has mounted in it three headed pins 11. The fore part is recessed at 12 and still deeper recessed at 13 and the pins 11 have their heads projecting just beyond the backs of these recesses. The lower part of the fore part is cut off at an angle to the backof the lower recess at 14. The heel part 15 is made preferably of metal in order to withstand properly the shocks imparted by the hceling machine. It has its front surface beveled straight across on the same slant as the surface l-l of the fore part. it has mounted upon its front surface a plate 16 which forms the roar member of the separable hinge bonding mechanism. The front member of the hinge 17 constituting one of the separable members of this bonding mechanism, is hinged to the plate at its lower end at 18 and is provided with two downturned notches l at .its lower end and a recurved portion '20 at its upper end having a downturned notch 21. These three notches 19 and 2l are so arranged as to register exactly with the three headed pins 11, mountcdin the rear face of the foropart and constituting the other separable portion of the bonding mechanism, so that the plate 17 can be placed in contact with the surface 12 and then slipped downward to engage the heads of the pins '11 in the notches l9 and2l.

The plate 17 has mounted upon .itsi'ear face a. loop 22. The plate 16 hasr pivotally mounted at its unior end a hail 23 which passes inside" the loop 22. Near the lower 'end of the loop 22 a projection 24 is formed on theback of the plate 17. The bail 23 is normally held elevated by the spring 25. The plate 16 has at its lower end a struck'up tongue 26. When the bail 23 is pushed down-' yon-shown in Fig. 2. The bail 23 settles against the upper end of the loop 22 and acts as a strut to lock the last in extended position. At the same time the tongue 26 swings forward under the two lower pins 11 which are thus grasped firmly between the notches 19 and the tongue 26. The lower front surfaceof the heel part fits snugly under the surface 14. The last may be collapsed by pressing down the bail 23 until it passes the perpendicular to the plate 16, after which the heel part can be, turned around the pivot 18, the bail 23 sliding downward over and under the projection 2A which it engages friction-ally, the friction being suflicient to keep the heel part fronrfalling back into extended position by its own weight, although the angle between the lower. surface of the projection 24; and the platel? can be so filed out as to enable the heel part to fall into extended position under any desired extra. pressure. It will be seen also that the fitting of the front surface of the heel part under the surface 14: 1s a safeguard against looseness 1n addition to the action ofthe tongue 26, since it prevents any upward movement of the heel part and the member 17 relative to the bonding members 11.

Having fully described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure byLetters Patent of the United States isz5- 1. A last comprising a fore part, a. heel part, a hinge connection between said parts, a member hingedly mounted on one of said parts, and two abutments on the other of said parts, constructed and arranged to be engaged by said member for holding the last in extended and collapsed position, respectively.

2. A last comprising a fore part, a libel part, a hinge between said. parts, a strut mounted on one of said parts to hold the last inv extended position, said strut being loosely confined to the other of said parts, and an abutment engaged by said strut to hold the last in collapsed position f 3. A hinge connection or a last compris mg a pair of plates, a pivot connection bebonding member adapted for separable connection with a fore part, and a member constructed and arranged to hold said bonding member in collapsed posltlon.

5. A heel part for a last, having a pivoted bonding member adapted for separable connection with a fore part, and a member constructed and arranged to hold said bonding member in either collapsed or extended position.

6. A heel part for a last having a pivoted bonding member adapted forseparable connection with a fore part, means for limiting the movement of said member, and means for holding said member in collapsed position.

7. A last comprising a fore part having a bonding member pro iecting from its rear face and having an under-cut portion ex tending from its rear face to the tread face of the last, and a separable heel part having a bonding member pivoted thereto, said bonding member being constructed and arranged to slide downwardly into engagement with said fore part bonding member, said heel part having a portion of its forward face arranged to come into abutting engagement with said under-cut portion of said fore part when the last is extended, whereby said two bonding members are held against disengagement.

8. A last comprising a fore part having a bonding member and an under-cut rear face, and a separable heel part having a bonding member pivoted thereto and constructed and arranged to drop intoengagement with said fore part bonding member and to turn about I? in extended position and holding it in collapsed position, respectively.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification.

' ALBERT LATHAM. A 

